The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

The place for artists, modellers, level designers et al to discuss their approaches for creating content for OGRE.
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

ok new version!! 8) 1.3

get it HERE

changes:
1. fixed issue with very slow material export with many objects
(used a variant of the code posted by bringer of darkness thank you!!) :D

2. by default the scene manager now cleans up / deletes your xml files... if you want to keep them you can toggle to keep them under Tools > preferences > generate xml files

3. added an "instance heirarchy" function... properly instances each node in a heirarchy to a new one, and copies export parameters appropriately.

4. fixed a bug in the load export parameters function


Other notes:
i was going to also interface with the dotscene octree converter but
i had problems using it... i kept getting errors when converting my meshes so for now i will leave it out. maybe i can still include it later
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Post by jacmoe »

Someone made a modification of the LFA exporter to support the OSM format, here:
http://www.ogre3d.org/phpBB2addons/viewtopic.php?t=1078
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JeDi
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Post by JeDi »

Hi,

I have some questions about the LFA exporter and its current state:
- Does it work well together with the recently released maya mesh exporter?
- It seems that there is some duplicate functionality between the LFA exporter and the main one. Like material exporting and such. Wouldn't it be better to only provide the functionality to export the scene-related stuff (scene graph, lights, sky settings, ...), and rely on the main exporter for all the "internal" stuff (meshes, skeletons, materials, ...)?
- Is there a way to automatically tag the whole scene as exportable, and let the exporter choose unique IDs? Cause now (unless I miss something) it is rather cumbersome to load a pre-created maya scene with 100s of objects and just export the whole thing to Ogre.

Anyway, I look forward to using this exporter! Thanks!

Greetz,
JeDi
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

JeDi wrote: - Does it work well together with the recently released maya mesh exporter?
- It seems that there is some duplicate functionality between the LFA exporter and the main one. Like material exporting and such. Wouldn't it be better to only provide the functionality to export the scene-related stuff (scene graph, lights, sky settings, ...), and rely on the main exporter for all the "internal" stuff (meshes, skeletons, materials, ...)?
The LFA exporter is an addon to the regular ogre exporter. It wont export any meshes without it. It isnt duplicate functionality... the LFA exporter simply adds functionality to allow you to export multiple objects from a single scene in an organized way. So you could export entire level content straight from one maya file therefore giving you choice on how you want to organize art content on the maya side. ( it already does precisely what your second point suggests)
JeDi wrote: - Is there a way to automatically tag the whole scene as exportable, and let the exporter choose unique IDs? Cause now (unless I miss something) it is rather cumbersome to load a pre-created maya scene with 100s of objects and just export the whole thing to Ogre.
yes...
-select everything
-tools > make multiple exportable

a few things though:

-id's dont need to be differ between objects... those are simply flags that you can attribute to objects in the .scene and use however you want

-the string in the 'name' field of the LFA exporter windows is the true unique id for each exported mesh. (and this is done automatically)

-use: tools > entity names >... tools to ensure that all entity names are indeed unique if you have been renaming things.


go HERE to learn how to use the LFA exporter. (and read the readme)

hope this helps.
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Post by JeDi »

I had a quick browse through the mel script and saw something about material exporting. But now that you say it, that's probably just logic to get all the materials in one file...

And the "make multiple exportable" thingy is just what I need!

Thanks
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Post by JeDi »

I just tried to load the scene, selected all, used the "make multiple exported" tool (which worked, all nodes now have a "OGRE_ENVIRONMENT" element), and tried to export the scene, but it fails.

The .scene file is exported correctly (at first sight), but the rest isn't. All I get is an empty .material file. The output windows doesn't show much. Except for the init/deinit stuff (registering, unregistering, ...) all I see is "Writing materials data...", "OK" and "Export completed succesfully". The "export" only takes a fraction of a second.

Maybe I should try installing the old exporter again (if I can still find it somewhere), but now I still don't have an easy way to export a complex scene :( Could it be that interfacing with the new version of the maya exporter works a bit differently? Cause it seems that the LFA scenemanager is doing what is should (.scene file, bundled .material file), but it can't interface with the other exorter correctly (that exporter works for single meshes btw).

Greetz,
JeDi
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

im not sure what the problem is ...

OGRE_ENVIRONMENT are optional settings for the .scene itself... not each node.

did you even make any meshes exportable?


you'll have to be more specific for me to be able to help you.
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Post by JeDi »

Hi,

I'll give a bit more details. I can also sent you the tested maya model if you want (off course not to be used for other projects, yadada :roll:)

What our company wants is being able to model a scene, but not letting it rely on Ogre in the modelling phase already. Off course it's not realy a problem that the exporter stores some ogre-specific stuff to be able to fine-tune, but it should be possible to use it without any ogre-specific modeling. So far so good, the exporter can do this if I can just select everything I want and tag them as exportable in bulk.
This requirement is because we have to use the scenes also in other, non-ogre software (i.e. pocket pc applications).

I have maya (7.0) installed, with the newest maya exporter (1.2.1.1) and the LFA scene manager (1.3) installed. The maya exporter is working with some known bugs (i.e. the bounding box not being calculated correctly).

What I did was:
- open the scene in maya
- Edit/Select All
- runExporterLFA
- Tools/Multiple Make Exportable

When I do "Export .scene File", a .scene file is created, but the script editor says "Error: No object matches name: camera1". There is no camera named "camera1", only one named "persp1".

When I do "Export Scene", only an empty .material file is created, no errors in the script editor, no errors in the log.

Should I give you the maya file?

Greetz,
JeDi
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

i think the problem may be in your 'select all' operation... when you 'select all' maya selects all sorts of nodes that you may or may not really want to export.... locators, cameras, script nodes... who knows. I would start over and try just exporting a couple of things at a time... maybe just export 1 model with a texture first... if it works, then select things intentionally from there and make them exportable. Otherwise you wont know where the problem lies.
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Post by JeDi »

I tried to make only one node exportable, without succes. I also tried to create a new scene with a simple sphere, and make that exportable.
Again, the .scene file seems correct, I get an empty .material file and no .mesh file

Can someone confirm that the newest version of the maya exporter works with v1.3 of the LFA scene manager? Cause if it should work, it'll probably be an installation issue...

Greetz,
JeDi
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

ok ill look into this.
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Post by metaldev »

ok jedi is right, the connection between the exporter and the scene manager are broken with the new exporter update.

Ill have to get this sorted out with bisco.
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Post by ghostlake »

Because the new exporter eliminate the .XML file, so the export parameter is not the same and this will destroy the mesh export of LFA manager mel.
==
You could fix this soon, metaldev ;)
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

thats part of it... there are still bugs in the .mll so i am sorting this out with bisco. I'll def post when it gets done, just juggling a bunch of stuff right now :)
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Post by ghostlake »

Have you find all the error, bisco... I dont know what bugs are inside the .mll
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Post by metaldev »

yea he got it, im porting the scene manager now
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

YAY new version: 1.58)

got it working with the new exporter changes (be sure to have the latest plugin)
if you are new to this, be sure to visit here


NOTE: there still seems to be a bug in the .mll with exporting vertex colors...

other than modifying it to use the new syntax:

1) i added support for Shared Geometry. To use shared geo simply parent any meshes without export parameters to ones that do have them... they will export as its submeshes.

2) removed support for .xml mesh format

3) no longer need to close native ogre exporter anymore, as it is fully command line driven now.


enjoy ^_^
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Post by maxxoros »

Great community we have :) and great work, metaldev
_--___
With the new exporter and also the LFA, maya become more strong
---
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Post by ghostlake114 »

Seem it is buggy now...could you check these thing:
1. The export scene command do not export mesh file, it only could export .material file for the scene. It seems stop when select first object to duplicate.
2. The export select mesh data only export the one mesh and then could not delete the duplicate of its for exporting and then. It stops
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

ghostlake you will have to be more specific for me to be able to help you.

do you have the latest plug-in?
did you apply export parameters to any meshes?
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Post by ghostlake »

Sorry I am out of work 2 days and could not reply soon
===
So, my problem is simple export thing :D
===
I have just re-setup the newest version of Maya Exporter 1.2.1.1 and delete all old LFA files, setup new one and see the 1.5 version on the window of LFA Exporter
===
I make object exportable, the .scene file is okie, but I can not export the scene (which mean .mesh and .material). Only .material exported.
===
If I select model and export select mesh, only 1 mesh is exported, and then the export stop. The duplicated object of the first model could not be deleted.
====
That all and details of my problem . Wrong setup could be ignored
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

ok... my version of the exporter is 1.2.1.2 ... i guess bisco hasnt been able to update the version at ogre3d.org yet. in the meantime i posted it HERE for you. I apologize for that... we didnt coordinate well :oops:
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Post by ghostlake »

Yeah,It work like rock, Thanks for the new exporter also the new .scene export, bisco and metaldev
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metaldev
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Post by metaldev »

cool! ^_^ thanks for helping us clear up problems.
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Post by kirado »

metaldev

Does you exporter export multiple UV sets?
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